Chip wrote:Tenuki, I grow a lot of herbs for cooking as well, perhaps my fav is Rosemary, really like that on almost anything.

Yup, and rosemary winters well here, I have a 5 year old plant I'm still eating. I also grow several different thymes, cilantro, chives, parsley, mixed greens (kale winters here just fine and I just found a recipe for that my wife will actually eat!?!? predictably it starts with bacon in a pan...) oregeno and basil, but i've given up on those this year, just doesn't get hot enough here to get the intense flavor they are capible of. and then new stuff every year to try it out + the usual squashes, beans, etc. Usually grow tomatoes too, but a few years ago I got late blight, so skipping a few years.

Oh wait, this is the tea forum.. well, I'm thinking of getting a tea plant for ornamental purposes, does that count?

tenuki wrote:Yup, and rosemary winters well here, I have a 5 year old plant I'm still eating. I also grow several different thymes, cilantro, chives, parsley, mixed greens

I must winter rosemary over in a greenhouse, basically unheated except on the worst nights. I have some that are really getting old, 15 years old, grown as topiaries or semi bonsai. The oldest ones are definately suffering from the climate here.

I was at a conference in Vegas and was amazed at all the street plantings of rosemary, seems to thrive in the desert as well.

That used to be my number one choice, but I'm finding that I really enjoy some herbal teas, mainly mint based ones. I ordered some casablanca twist which I look forward to trying this weekend. Which reminds me, I need to go pack up some tea for today!!